1. Field
Exemplary embodiments relate to an X-ray imaging method and apparatus for performing X-ray imaging by transmitting X-rays toward an object, reducing noise in soft tissue images of the object, and forming a clear X-ray image of a lesion region inside the object.
2. Description of the Related Art
Mammography uses radiation, such as X-rays, to capture an X-ray image of breasts, which image can then be used for diagnosing breast cancer. An apparatus using mammography may be, for example, a mammography system. The mammography system irradiates a breast with X-rays in a state in which the breast is compressed in order to obtain a two-dimensional X-ray image of the breast.
The mammography system is advantageous in that lesions inside breasts may be detected at low cost, and, in particular, a detection rate of microcalcifications is high. However, an image which is obtained using the mammography system is one slice of a two-dimensional X-ray image, and thus inner tissues of breasts overlap one another in the two-dimensional X-ray image. In particular, inner tissues of dense breasts overlap each other to a large extent, and thus it is difficult to distinguish normal tissues from lumps.
To address this problem of the mammography system, a tomosynthesis system has been developed. The tomosynthesis system performs radiography on a compressed breast at different angles while moving an X-ray generator which generates X-rays in order to obtain a three-dimensional X-ray image.
The tomosynthesis system performs radiography on a compressed breast at several angles and combines two-dimensional images which are obtained via the respective radiography processes in order to form a three-dimensional image. Thus, the tomosynthesis system may provide reduced overlapping of inner tissues of a breast as compared to the mammography system.